Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are scheduled for their first interview as the Democratic ticket on Thursday. This follows weeks of pressure from Republicans and media outlets for the nominees to face questions.
CNN anchor Dana Bash will conduct the interview in Georgia, a key battleground state, and it will air during primetime at 9 p.m. ET on CNN.
Despite intense media attention on Harris’s campaign and growing support in the six weeks since Joe Biden ended his re-election bid and endorsed her, the vice president has yet to participate in a formal interview or press conference.
“There are a lot of questions that have been lingering out there for her to answer as we go into this fall campaign,” said David Chalian, CNN’s political director, after announcing the interview on Tuesday.
He added that Harris and Walz had successfully rallied the party, raised significant funds, and executed the convention well. “All of that is very scripted,” he noted. “This is the first time she is going to take questions.”
Harris outlined some broad policy agendas at the Democratic National Convention last week, including a middle-class tax cut and a strong foreign policy stance against Russia and North Korea.
Harris has recently introduced proposals such as $25,000 down-payment support for first-time homebuyers and measures to combat price-gouging companies.
However, some details of her campaign still need to be clarified. The official campaign website does not have a dedicated policy page, and Harris has avoided extensive interviews, opting instead for safer campaign appearances and brief interactions with reporters.
According to a recent Politico report, Harris’s communications team is cautious about doing major interviews, similar to Biden’s approach during his campaign.
An unnamed source mentioned there is little incentive to change this strategy: “She’s getting out exactly the message she wants to get out.”
As the campaign enters the final stretch, Harris and Walz, the governor of Minnesota, are adjusting their strategy slightly.
Harris and her opponent, Donald Trump, are set to debate next month, though there has been some disagreement over the debate rules, particularly regarding microphone muting.
Biden’s campaign insisted on muting microphones except when a candidate speaks, a condition for agreeing to the debates.
Trump mentioned on Truth Social that the 10 September debate would follow the same rules as the last CNN Debate.
Harris’s campaign, however, stated that the debate specifics are still being finalized with ABC News.
A spokesperson for Harris noted that both candidates were willing to debate with unmuted microphones throughout the event to ensure substantive exchanges but criticised Trump for allegedly letting his handlers overrule him.
